CWA Response to Australian TV Broadcast

CWA Response to Australian TV Broadcast

Christian World Adoption (CWA) has taken great strides over its many years of work in the field of inter-country adoption to ensure that its practices, and the practices of those it works with, are both ethical and legal. This is paramount to CWA because the rights and well being of each child has always been our foremost concern.

Inter-country adoption is extremely difficult work. It is difficult because of the layers of law involved, which are necessary in order to safeguard children’s rights; because of the rigorous accreditation that agencies like CWA voluntarily submit to; and because of the practical challenges of communicating about complex concepts with people whose language, education level and culture differ so greatly from our own.

In any field, there are instances where someone with a critical or even cynical perspective can take a limited amount of information and mold public perception to suit their purposes. More directly to the point, if someone desired to discredit the work of inter-country adoption agencies using limited amounts of information, perhaps taken out of context and without rebuttal, there is opportunity for them to do that. But there is always another side of the story.

CWA was recently asked to participate in the production of an investigative journalism program addressing Ethiopian adoption. Taking into consideration the amount of resources that would need to be devoted to that process, CWA elected not to participate. This decision was based on the reality that the critics of inter-country adoption are many. We determined that the greater good would be served by focusing on our work, rather than on trying to change the minds of those who may have a negative agenda.

The facts, however, are simple: CWA goes to great lengths to comply and promote not only the letter of the law, but also the spirit behind it. Where staff or others who may have been involved in the adoption process have not evidenced a commitment to the same standards, their involvement has been discontinued. The same is true for other reputable agencies, many of whom are also members of Joint Council on International Children’s Services and accredited by the Council On Accreditation. The latter is responsible, on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, for ensuring that agencies measure up to extremely rigorous standards of practice.

CWA works diligently at many levels with partner organizations, Ethiopian officials and the U.S. State Department to ensure that each child placed for adoption meets the legal definition of “orphan.” And, in fact, there have been many instances in which CWA has determined that, in spite of a child meeting such definition, he or she is not a suitable candidate for placement with an American family. CWA supports hundreds of children in what it calls “community-based care” in order to ensure that children who may have a chance to be cared for by extended family or others, will be.

The best interest of each child is what CWA is after. Nothing more, nothing less.